Central Frontenac Township and the Limestone District School Board have come to terms over the sale of the former Hinchinbrooke School (Parham) and Sharbot Lake Public School properties.

After an in camera session at the end of their regular Council meeting on November 24, Central Frontenac Council passed a motion in public session authorizing the two purchases. The price of the two properties was not included in the motion, and will be released at a later date.

Mayor Frances Smith said the township and the school board have been in negotiations for several months about the township buying the Sharbot Lake School property, and at the last minute the school board brought Hinchinbooke school into the picture.

“When we had just about come to terms over the Sharbot Lake School property, the board asked us if we would consider looking again at the Hinchinrooke School property. When we had looked at it earlier, the board was asking for $220,000 and we were not interested in paying that much. Since that time it had gone onto the open market and the price had dropped. We made them an offer for it, and this time they accepted it,” she said.

In order to buffer the township's budget, the closing date for the Sharbot Lake School was the end of November, 2015, and for Hinchinbrooke it is the end of November, 2016.

“We have unspent money from township projects this year which we can put to the Sharbot Lake School, and we will budget for the Hinchinbrooke sale in 2016. Even though the closing for Hinchinbrooke is set for the end of next year, the School Board has agreed to grant us access to the property before then,” Smith said.

Smith did not rule out the township taking out a loan to pay for the two purchases.

She said that there are no fixed plans for either site, but Council has talked about the potential for senior's housing for the Sharbot Lake site, and a central location for a township garage at the Parham site.

“We will go to the public for ideas about what the best use will be for the two properties,” she said.

The township is not interested in taking on any major ongoing costs for property maintenance, she added, so any proposed use for either property will need a firm business plan before council will seriously consider it.

Frontenac County has a goal of establishing a five unit senior's housing complex in each of the Frontenac Townships, and has some money set aside to facilitate that.

Central Frontenacs currently has two township garages up and running, one at the Olden Waste site on Highway 7 near Mountain Grove, and the other on Road 38, 10 km south of Parham.

Both sites have relatively new salt and sand storage domes.

Central Frontenac Township and the Limestone District School Board have come to terms over the sale of the former Hinchinbrooke School (Parham) and Sharbot Lake Public School properties.

After an in camera session at the end of their regular Council meeting on November 24, Central Frontenac Council passed a motion in public session authorizing the two purchases. The price of the two properties was not included in the motion, and will be released at a later date.

Mayor Frances Smith said the township and the school board have been in negotiations for several months about the township buying the Sharbot Lake School property, and at the last minute the school board brought Hinchinbooke school into the picture.

“When we had just about come to terms over the Sharbot Lake School property, the board asked us if we would consider looking again at the Hinchinrooke School property. When we had looked at it earlier, the board was asking for $220,000 and we were not interested in paying that much. Since that time it had gone onto the open market and the price had dropped. We made them an offer for it, and this time they accepted it,” she said.

In order to buffer the township's budget, the closing date for the Sharbot Lake School was the end of November, 2015, and for Hinchinbrooke it is the end of November, 2016.

“We have unspent money from township projects this year which we can put to the Sharbot Lake School, and we will budget for the Hinchinbrooke sale in 2016. Even though the closing for Hinchinbrooke is set for the end of next year, the School Board has agreed to grant us access to the property before then,” Smith said.

Smith did not rule out the township taking out a loan to pay for the two purchases.

She said that there are no fixed plans for either site, but Council has talked about the potential for senior's housing for the Sharbot Lake site, and a central location for a township garage at the Parham site.

“We will go to the public for ideas about what the best use will be for the two properties,” she said.

The township is not interested in taking on any major ongoing costs for property maintenance, she added, so any proposed use for either property will need a firm business plan before council will seriously consider it.

Frontenac County has a goal of establishing a five unit senior's housing complex in each of the Frontenac Townships, and has some money set aside to facilitate that.

Central Frontenacs currently has two township garages up and running, one at the Olden Waste site on Highway 7 near Mountain Grove, and the other on Road 38, 10 km south of Parham.

Both sites have relatively new salt and sand storage domes.

Young artists had a chance to try their hand at painting landscapes at this year's annual installment of the Land O' Lakes Art Club. Eighteen students aged 8-13 took part in the classes under the tutelage of grade 7/8 teacher Lee Hull, himself an accomplished and talented artist.

The students spent seven weeks painting the fall landscape surrounding the school. They took their easels, canvases and paints into the great outdoors and chose a section of landscape behind the school that they wanted to paint. Part of the challenge for the students was dealing with the ever-changing fall colours and Hull said that the students, who painted just once a week, were forced to remember the scenes in their mind's eye since the colours in the scenery were constantly changing.

The students also focused their talents on painting exactly what they saw rather than just the idea of it. Mr. Hull explained that, “Rather than painting the idea of a tree, the students had to paint a particular tree if that was their focus in the work.”

Other scenes included a wooden gazebo, and one student chose to focus on a bush with bright red leaves at the far end of the school yard. The students learned about scale, how to make objects in the foreground come to the front while keeping the other background elements towards the back of the canvas. The students learned how to mix colours and were also given the challenge of not using the colour black in the process.

The students began by painting a canvas with a neutral toned background and then used the colour green to sketch in with their brushes a drawing of the scene, paying close attention to detail and scale. The next step was to fill in the neutral section of the background, with the idea that once that had been done, the painting was then finished. The final step was to apply the colour white to hit the highlights in the scene and to bring the lightest parts of the picture forward.

To celebrate their finished works, the students held an art show and vernissage at the school on November 19 where the artists and guests enjoyed a multitude of fancy snacks courtesy of student parent Linda Tremblay, bringing to a close a successful exploration in landscape painting for students at the school.

On October 31, students from North Addington Education Centre canvassed the community in their costumes; not for candy or treats, but for non-perishable food items. Students and adults were stationed in each community: Flinton, Northbrook, and Cloyne. The response received was overwhelming. Most homes had a bag or box of food ready, and were not reluctant to contribute to the community. The event and pick up were supervised by a staff member.

The food collected will help the food bank through the winter season. Darian Smith, an NAEC student, stated, “I should just keep the costume- I’m definitely doing this again next year!”

Angela Salmond, the principal of NAEC, was excited to show her support for the event: “I am so proud of our students and would like to extend my thanks to their families and the community. There is always the worry that an event won’t be successful year after year, but Trick or Eat has only gained momentum. Thank you for investing in our students- I am very grateful”.

While this event helped stock the shelves, the winter and holiday seasons are a busy time for the food bank. An attempt was made to go to as many houses as possible, but if your donation was missed, please call North Addington at 613-336-8991 and ask for Candice Bovard; we will pick up your item(s). Items can also we dropped off at NAEC, and we will make sure that they are delivered to the Food Bank. Those requiring assistance from the Food Bank, please contact Land O’ Lakes Community Services at 613-336-8934.

On October 15, students at Harrowsmith Public School had a chance to experience first hand what it means to engage in the democratic process as they participated in the school's first ever Student Vote program. Students in Ms. Thayer's and Ms. Ranson's grade 4/5 classes took the lead in implementing the program and over 175 students in grade four and higher had a chance to cast their ballots for their party of choice in the riding of Lanark Frontenac Kingston.

Through the process the students gained an understanding of the country's three levels of government, its four major political parties, and how each party's platform differed in the 2015 federal election campaign.

Ms. Thayer said that the program ties in nicely with the social studies curriculum for the lead students, who are studying government and the democratic process. The aim of the lead students was to convince their fellow students that their chosen party had the strategies and policies that would best serve and benefit Canadians. Ms. Thayer said the focus was on the four major political parties and their platforms rather than the individual candidates running in the riding.

Lead students were invited first to research the platforms and to chose the party they most wanted to represent. They learned about numerous issues including the Syrian refugee crisis, the state of the economy, the environment, health care and more. Students were also instructed how to use various forms of media in order to get their information across to their fellow voters as well as to think critically about the media they were researching. The students gained a whole new vocabulary and awareness of the political process and you can bet that there were some very interesting conversations taking place throughout the school on voting day. After choosing their party, the students made numerous presentations to their fellow students and were also in charge of running and officiating at the ballot stations.

I spoke to two students, Emma Aitken and Noah McDougall, who were respectively campaigning for the Conservative and NDP parties. Emma said that she chose to campaign for the Conservative party because she “felt that Stephen Harper over the years did a good job in keeping Canadians safe”. She added that prior to this program she “did not know very much about politics”, but said that now she feels that she has become much more interested in the topic.

Noah said he chose the NDP because he felt “it was time to take a break from Stephen Harper and see what it would be like without him”. He also liked the NDP's stance on hand guns and their goals to create more affordable health care and housing.

Asked what qualities they feel a prime minister needs to run the country, Noah replied, “being enthusiastic about what they will do for the country, not being grumpy and caring about what things might be going wrong for people”.

Emma said that “being bilingual, not backing out of promises and helping other people in the world” are all important.

The results from the Student Vote Program are in and the Liberals won in a landslide with 67%, (225.8 seats), Conservatives, 20% (67.4seats), the NDP, 12% (40.44 seats) and the Green party 1% or 3.37 seats. As in the past the results reflect the decision of Canadian voters. By the end of the day students at HPS were not only well informed but were also thrilled to be able to have their say in the 2015 federal election.

On September 29, Grade 9 to 12 students and chaperones from North Addington Education Centre headed off for an overnight trip to Stratford. This trip was made possible by the very generous help given to the school by the Education Department in Stratford, who covered most of the costs. Some students chose to see “Anne Frank”, while others chose “Hamlet”.

Students had a packed agenda. On arrival in Stratford, the students toured the Anne Frank exhibit at the local museum. On September 30, they headed off for a “Warehouse” tour, in which they learned about how costumes, props and sets are made, and tried a few costumes on for size.

At 11am the students attended a “Prologue”, which was a workshop with actors from their play. Students spent an hour doing drama activities and asking questions, prior to their play’s matinee at 2pm. Featured in the “Anne Frank” prologue were Cassandra Parks, Shaelynn Flagler, Madi Lemke, and Nathan Whitelock. Students in the “Hamlet” prologue were Mackenzie Johnson, Kara Rosien, Lucas Parks and Ilia Salvaterra.

Students thoroughly enjoyed the productions they attended. Aaron Smith said, “I was not sure if I wanted to go on the trip, but I’m so glad I did as I loved Hamlet. I don’t usually go for theatre things, but it was great.” Olivia Bence, who attended “Anne Frank”, loved the set, which was “like magic” in the way parts appeared and disappeared.

Many students expressed a hope to attend another play next year.

NAEC hosted visiting actor Lara Jean Chorostecki on September 23 and 24, prior to the school trip to Stratford, and on October 2, after the trip. She led the students in several drama-based activities, focusing on “Anne Frank” and Shakespeare’s language, as well as the use of voice and body in drama.

The visit was part of a program called “Teaching Shakespeare” which is run by the Education Department at Stratford. In order to receive funding towards a student trip to Stratford, and to arrange for a visiting actor, teachers are required to attend a “Teaching Shakespeare” conference for three days in August. There were about 60 teachers, in total. Ms. Allan and Ms. Randle attended from NAEC, and received materials and ideas that they could use in a classroom.

Many actors who are in productions at Stratford worked alongside the teachers in a variety of workshops. Lara Jean Chorostecki was one of the participating actors in the “Teaching Shakespeare” conference, and was paired up with NAEC. Although she got her start in Stratford, at the age of 17, she is now in movies and on television. Her most recent series was “X-Company” on CBC this year – now available on Netflix. A second season is planned for early 2016. She was also on the very popular “Hannibal”, which is also available on Netflix. For more information on Ms. Chorostecki, visit: http://www.larajeanchorostecki.com/about/

Students in grade 9, 10, 11 and 12 participated in the workshops, and enjoyed the experience very much. Allya Garey, who is a big fan of “X-Company”, presented a thank-you card to Ms. Chorostecki on her last day at NAEC.

The students of North Addington Education Centre will be suiting up in their Campbell's Soup costumes on October 31 and knocking on your door! They will be asking for non-perishable food items for the local food bank, which is experiencing a shortage of food.

About 10 secondary students will be spreading out between Flinton, Northbrook, and Cloyne to hwlp the food bank instead of tricking or treating for candy. The students are not strangers to supporting the community who supports them.

This is the fifth year for the very successful event. We're asking community members to contribute what they can. We will be having three to four students canvassing each community between approximately 5 and 8pm. They will be wearing NAEC ID tags and a very large smile. We are going to visit as many households as possible, but if you have contributions and the food is not picked up, please call Candice Bovard throughout the week at 613-336-8991 and we will pick it up.

On behalf of students and staff, the principal, Angela Salmond, would like to thank the community for their contributions to our food drive efforts over the years. "We would not be able to organize events like this without the support of our generous community. Thank you for investing in our children, and helping to show them what really matters."

If you see students in the community and they are “trick or eating”, feel free to ask them to sing or dance for your donation; they are prepared to work for your generosity!

It was a chilly day for the hundreds of wannabee wolves at Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove on October 1. Students from five northern area schools in grades one through eight gathered there to participate in the annual Timber Wolf Run, an event that was founded close to a decade and a half ago by former LOLPS teacher, Brian Robertson. For the last five years LOLPS grade one teacher, Jen Meulenaar, has been heading up the event with the help of staff at the school. The run is aimed at getting students from northern area schools together for a fun day of outdoor racing and is a great way for students to kick off the cross-country running season.

Participants included students from Land O'Lakes, Granite Ridge, North Addington, Prince Charles and Clarendon Central. The races included competitive runs of 1km, 1.8km and 2.5 km as well as a non-competitive one kilometre walk/run for students not wishing to compete. The competitive race winners took home medals and ribbons. Though the race is not an official qualifier for other upcoming regional racing events, it is a good practice event for those students who were hoping to qualify at the Region 3 qualifier race, which took place at Fort Henry in Kingston on October 6 in advance of the district finals.

Prior to the run at LOLPS, the students warmed up in the school gym before heading out to the starting line and running on the nearby trails, which took them through the woods surrounding the school. School principal, Emily Yanch, said the event is an annual tradition and a great opportunity for northern area students to get together. The participants not only got loads of exercise and fresh air but also enjoyed the opportunity to cheer one another on. Congratulations to all of the runners who took part.

Students at the Granite Ridge Education Centre (GREC) in Sharbot Lake celebrated the 35-year anniversary of Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope by doubling their donations at this year’s annual run, which took place at the school on September 30.

The run, now in its third year, was preceded the week before by a visit to the school from Ms. Ng-A-Mann, who brought with her a replica of Terry's prosthetic leg. This inspired the students to “double the dream” of Terry's wish to have every Canadian donate $1 to cancer research.

Cathy Reynolds, an educational assistant at the school, headed up the event, which began in the school’s back courtyard where two young cancer survivors who attend GREC, grade three student Kylie Babcock and grade six student Dylan Walker, helped to show their fellow students how their donations can make a difference. Dylan spoke fondly about Terry Fox, whom he called one of his “super heroes” and who he said “has shown how every single person can make a difference.”

The two students were invited to draw the winning tickets for two prizes, the first a Terry Fox Foundation t-shirt and the second, two free passes to the Museum of History in Ottawa and special Terry Fox display there. School mascot Grif the Gryphon, Vice-principal James MacDonald and Reynolds joined the two students and spoke about the Marathon of Hope National School Day Run, a fundraiser that takes place in schools across Canada. Over $675 million has been raised in Fox's name for cancer research, 84% of which has gone directly to cancer research.

These kinds of events always have their special moments and one young student said that she would be donating her toonie, probably the following day once she receives the funds from the tooth fairy. Vice-principal McDonald said the event underlines the character traits that Terry Fox possessed, and which the students at the school are encouraged to emulate. They include grit, perseverance, humility empathy and determination. “Terry was all of that wrapped into one”, Reynolds said.

Following the assembly the students set off on the walk/run, which took them on a route around the school and village. By the end of the day over $600 was raised for cancer research.